Florida worker wanted religious exemption from COVID shot. She was fired instead, feds say
A home furniture store’s assistant manager was fired after asking for an exemption from her company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy — saying her Christian beliefs prevented her from getting the shot, according to federal officials.
Now the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Hank’s Furniture, the woman’s former employer, accusing the company of religious discrimination. The retail seller is based in Arkansas and has stores in four states, including Florida where the store manager worked.
The assistant manager at Hank’s Furniture store in Pensacola told her boss “she had no plans” to get the vaccine, as her religious beliefs wouldn’t “allow” it, and asked for a religious exemption in August 2021, the lawsuit filed Sept. 19 says.
Hank’s Furniture is accused of pressuring her into getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and sending her articles published online “to convince her that her sincerely held religious beliefs were not scientifically accurate,” a complaint filed by the EEOC says.
After verbally requesting the accommodation, the woman sought help from Hank’s Furniture on how to submit a written request, but the company is accused of ignoring her, according to the complaint.
She was told Hank’s Furniture “did not care why she would not take the COVID-19 vaccine, that (the company) would never grant an accommodation, and that if she did not take the vaccine, she would not remain in management,” the complaint says.
In October 2021, Hank’s Furniture fired her for refusing to get vaccinated after she figured out a way to submit a written request for accommodation, according to the complaint.
By not accommodating the employee’s Christian beliefs, Hank’s Furniture is accused of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC announced in a Sept. 19 news release.
Hank’s Furniture is aware of the lawsuit and “denies any wrongdoing,” company spokesman Adam Jordan told McClatchy News in a statement on Sept. 20.
“This will be resolved through the legal process,” Jordan said.
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are required to accommodate their employee’s religious beliefs if the accommodation would pose a minimal burden on how the business operates, according to the EEOC.
“This suit should remind employers they must communicate with employees requesting accommodation for religious beliefs and try to accommodate those beliefs whenever reasonably possible,” Marsha Rucker, regional attorney for the EEOC’s district in Birmingham, Alabama, said in a statement.
The lawsuit against Hank’s Furniture seeks to recover damages for the employee, including back pay, the agency said in the release. The lawsuit comes after an EEOC investigation and the agency’s attempts to reach a pre-litigation settlement, according to the release.
Johnny C. Taylor, the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, a professional human resources membership association, explains in an article published by the organization in February 2022 that an employee cannot be immediately fired if a reasonable accommodation for refusing a vaccine based on religion isn’t possible.
“If an employee cannot get vaccinated because of a disability or sincerely held religious belief, and there is no reasonable accommodation possible, an employer could exclude the employee from physically entering the workplace,” Taylor said.
“But this doesn’t mean an individual can be automatically terminated. Employers will need to determine if any other rights apply under the EEO laws or other federal, state and local authorities,” Taylor added.
Pensacola is about 195 miles west of Tallahassee.
This story was originally published September 20, 2023 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Florida worker wanted religious exemption from COVID shot. She was fired instead, feds say."
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